The Sacred Twin Bedtime Routine

When it comes to nighttime routines it seems I am as OCD as Jack Nicholson in the movie "As Good as it Gets."

Every expecting mom should volunteer to spend 24 hours in the NICU at their local hospital to learn just how to care for a newborn. I wish I would have with Charli, and I am not even sure if this is allowed but it would have certainly helped me as a first time mom. The nurses get the babies on a better schedule than any book or website could suggest, and you actually get to see it. They change, feed, bathe, and rock like clockwork and it works. So now I have adopted this super-duper strictness in my bedtime/feeding routine. I have a strict regimen that I stick to now and if you try to call me at 9:00pm chances are I will pick up and hang up on you!

First, we put Charli down to bed about 8:45pm. (This time will move up once I head back to work, but for summer time it works perfectly.)

Second, prep the overnight bottles.We place 4 bottles in a large bowl with ice (This number was 8 bottles, then 6 bottles, and now that they are bigger only 4! Woo Hoo!). I place them next to the crock-pot in my bathroom.



Third, I change both girls' diapers, place their Snuza Halo Baby Movement Monitors on their diapers, and get them ready for bottles, making sure to have room temperature formula, burp cloths, and boppies ready for Troy and me. Turn on the fan and a noise maker, a Homedics Sound Spa: I use the rain setting on loud with the blue projection disc.


















These are the Halo monitors a sleep-saving gift from my mother-in-law. From: http://www.babyearth.com/snuza-halo-baby-movement-monitor.html "If there is no movement sensed for 15 seconds, Snuza will gently vibrate to stimulate your baby. If no further movement is sensed within 5 seconds, an audible alarm will alert you to act. Specifically, this monitor helps prevent SIDS deaths and lets new parents get a good nights sleep":
















Fourth, We feed the girls, and make sure to get a good burp. We give Josi Little Tummy's Gas Relief drops and this seems to help her with the gas sometimes.

Fifth, a tight swaddle. I swaddle both girls in the Aden and Anais swaddling blankets. They sell these at Target:






Sixth, we rock the girls for about 15 minutes. Then place them still drowsy in their sleep sling thingies (Fisher Price Rock n' Play Sleeper):






They usually fall asleep within thirty minutes, sometimes we give them their pacifiers to soothe them, and sometimes they just fall asleep on their own.


During the night feeding...this is the tricky part:I do everything in the dark, using just the light of the projector.

Josi usually wakes up first because she is smaller and gets hungry much faster.

I hold her out 3-4 times with a pacifier before I actually get up to feed them (I think this helps to build up their tummy stamina, and this was a helpful tip when I had Charli from my cousin, who is a daycare director, and who I consider the baby-guru). Plus the pediatrician recommends to let them cry for 10-15 minutes until feeding them to see if they will go back to sleep, and I can't do this yet because Troy is sleeping next me the whole time and I don't want to wake him.

Then I follow my routine:

First, warm bottles to room temperature.







Second, change diapers.

Third, get into my lone ranger feeding position seen here but remember in the DARK! (forgive my attire!):




The"Lone Ranger" set-up is simply two of the king size pillows from our bed, and then my two pillows I sleep with in the back. I lay each baby sort of in between and on top of my thigh to create a "pocket" to hold the baby, this helps to keep their head turned to keep the burp cloth under the bottle. This saves the hassle of changing the girls clothes in the middle of the night when I realize that one of them has let all their milk spill out of their mouth and all over themselves! And, also helps in case I need to go "hands-free" for a minute to get a drink of water, scratch my nose, or even check Facebook!!

Fourth, alternate burping each baby.

Fifth, re-swaddle and then immediately back into the sleep slings. This has been great! And they usually fall asleep within 15 minutes sometimes needing their pacifiers to help.









Sixth, THE BEST PART!!!! I go back to sleep.

This routine as helped me to get them to sleep from 10:00pm-3am and 4am-7am consistently for about 2-3 weeks now, and last Friday they slept from 10:30pm-5:30am!!! I think it was a fluke. I am so thankful for the lessons learned in the NICU, they taught me how to breastfeed and supplement my preemie babies, and how to get them on a schedule. I started this routine at about 2-3 weeks old, sometimes it didn't work and sometimes it did. But, I had a completely different sleeping set-up because the girls were a little small for the sleep slings then. I still have that system set-up if anyone wants me to post it.

P.S. We were told at the hospital that swaddling is no longer recommended by the APA, but I swaddled Charli until she was 6months old. Libbi actually smiles when we swaddle her, and don't forget we also use the Snuza movement monitors. I also read online that the reason swaddling may be less beneficial is for breastfeeding mothers. But, when I was breastfeeding I woke the girls up to feed them every three hours no matter if they were awake or not. When you have twins you don't have to worry about supply issues! They will demand more breast milk simply because there are two of them...supply meets demand when it comes to breastfeeding. And, if you are breastfeeding, I recommend renting the hospital grade pump. This will boost supply, and reduce pumping time dramatically so you don't feel like you are hooked up to a machine all day!

If you'd like me to post step-by-step swaddling tips I will:) and I can give my specific breastfeeding/supplementing schedule too. I may just do it anyways since I find all this information helpful to myself, and so I don't forget all my lessons learned from the NICU. Here I am at 10:27pm about to snuggle myself in bed next to my twinnies!!!






And here I am at 7:30am




No they didn't sleep until 7:30!!! I wish! But, they woke up at 4:00am to eat and went right back to sleep! and I'll take that any day!!


I hope this helps other twin mommies to get some much needed sleep and sanity.